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[Zizka]

@alvarop: Thanks I guess but it means the rest of my art comes across as creepy so I'm not sure it's such a good thing  .

@io3: You mean websites like Gamespot, IGN, Giant Bomb and so on? Could be an idea, yes.

I've redone the funding ladder again, I have to redo the numbers every time the amount is changed.


I think that's it now, the amount settled for good. Chances of reaching 12,000$ is certainly higher than reaching 30,000$. So it's certainly a good thing I got feedback about the amount.

As for the time of launch, next Thursday will be the day. Thursday October 14th to November 6th, ending on a Sunday. Whatever happens, that's the definitive day so keep your eyes peeled.

All I have left to do is to tweak a couple more things and tidy up the budget section and we're good to go.

Could you guys tell me if you when you check the project's Kickstarter the amount is in Canadian dollars or US dollars ? I think it'll likely be Canadian dollars which is problematic because it comes across as higher because the Canadian currency is weaker.

[flipswitchx]

Thanks for sharing your process on the kickstarter it's super interesting. Good luck, hope you guys make it!

[BeautifulGlitch]

Hey, zizka!

We have been taking a look on your project lately. We have our own opinions but they match what some people have told you lately (lowering the main goal, being careful with which day of the week you choose, lowering team's priority, etc).

We're preparing a KS to be released on October too. Our biggest worry right now is how to secure a good amount of backers from day 1. Our dream goal would be to have 100 backers on day 1. Maybe it's just too much. On our last KS we met 100 backers between days 2 and 3.

So... which is your planning to get as many backers as possible in the shortest time possible?

Also, obviously, take a look to our project!

[Zizka]

@flipswitchx: Yup! Fingers crossed right!

@beautifulglitch: I'm frankly not sure yet. I have until next week to tweak the rewards. I don't know how realistic it is to expect 100 backers on day one with the kind of niche game STX is to be honest.

The early bird tier is something I'm toying around in my mind. I'm thinking of offering the 25$ reward for 10$ for the first week. I don't know how that works in KS so I'll have to look it up.

EDIT: The early bird animation:



I also redid the first message of the thread, was completely outdated. Can't have that during the KS period.


I've started contacting youtubers about the game. I'll keep you guys updated about the results of said contacts. That way, those of you interested in getting coverage for their games by youtubers will have an idea as to who responds and goes ahead to play the game on youtube.

This is the message I've written in the email sent to them:

Dear sir, madam,

I am contacting you to bring to your attention a game I have been working on for the last 2 years. It's a RPG with Super Mario RPG inspired dynamics.

You can find the trailer here:




My objective in contacting you is to hopefully entice you to do a short let's play of the game. More precisely, my goals here are twofold:

1. Get first reaction, feedback about the game.

2. Bring attention to the game for an upcoming crowdfunding campaign.

Here are the links for the game technical build:

[demo links]

Thank you for reading.

[My full name]




Youtubers Contacted:

I'm using video game caster as a reference list of indie game youtubers:
http://videogamecaster.com/

RaidleaderTV:
Subscribers: 2,889
Status: No response.

indieformer:
Subs: 17,092
Status: No response.

Zueljin Gaming:
Subs: 278,947
Status: No response.

[oldblood]

Could you guys tell me if you when you check the project's Kickstarter the amount is in Canadian dollars or US dollars ? I think it'll likely be Canadian dollars which is problematic because it comes across as higher because the Canadian currency is weaker.

It will display it in your countries currency with a button you can hover over to see it in native amounts:



So in this case, it will display it for me in USD ($9,105 goal).

[alvarop]

No, not all the art comes off as creepy, but the more detailed one has a very distinctive look that some people like, but I'm not that fond of. That's all

[io3 creations]

@io3: You mean websites like Gamespot, IGN, Giant Bomb and so on? Could be an idea, yes.

Yes, I was referring to those.  From what I've read, it's better to contact a journalist/writer directly rather than sending a generic e-mail.  It may take some browsing but you should be able to find the contact info.  Since the game aspect of STX is RPG, my guess is that I would look for those first who have written about and like RPG games.

Regarding the KS header images and more white space means extra scrolling down that LobsterSundew mentioned, what if the header images were half of the current size?  That would match the stretch goals images plus the game video as well.

Oh, about the Early Bird tier.  I was just thinking it since that's what a few projects did when LobsterSundew mentioned it is that there would be a limited quantity Early Bird tier to get the game at a slightly lower price,   e.g. Mable and the Wood:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2087839626/mableandthewood  though the "regular price game" tier includes a few other extra things.

It will display it in your countries currency with a button you can hover over to see it in native amounts:



So in this case, it will display it for me in USD ($9,105 goal).

Is this available for everyone?  I'm in Canada, and I only see the currency of the creator's country:
$ only for US
$ with CAD mentioned below the amount for Canada
£ for UK
€ for some European countries, except the ones with their own currency
etc
However, as long as people from the US can see the amount in USD, then that's still good since most backers tend to come from there.

[Zizka]

Thank god it shows up in the country's currency.

I will write an email to the reviewers at those websites and let you know how it goes. To be honest, I doubt they'll write up anything about it but maybe Rock Paper Shotgun might be interested. I think the game is too small in scope for IGN or Gamespot.

Do you think 12,000$ US is a realistic amount now? Looking for your true opinion here  .

[BeautifulGlitch]

I have done a Kickstarter before and I'm from Europe. Something to keep in mind is to translate reward tier prices to dollars. We include them in the visuals for the KS.

[oldblood]

Do you think 12,000$ US is a realistic amount now? Looking for your true opinion here  .

Personally, yes- I think logically the smaller the goal the better the chances of success. At the risk of sounding overly pessimistic- I think on a project like this: you can't raise enough to go full-time so best case you're raising part-time level funds and where you draw the line at how much is "too much" for part-time funding varies from one developer to the next. If you can afford to support yourself and just raise funding for dedicated help (which is how I would approach this if it was me) then a goal of 7-8k CAD suddenly becomes attainable. Obviously, that may not be an option. That being said, you've detailed your budgets and have nothing unrealistic in them so if that's as low as you can reasonably go then you've done all you could. There is certainly nothing unrealistic to a 12k goal.

Honestly, the only question at this point is what the interest level will be for STX. If its very high, than a 12k goal will be very easy. If the interest is low, even raising 5k could be a challenge. Like all things in this industry, in the end its going to be about the game.

I have done a Kickstarter before and I'm from Europe. Something to keep in mind is to translate reward tier prices to dollars. We include them in the visuals for the KS.

That is no longer necessary. Kickstarter will provide an approximate estimate in your currency below the native currency.

[Zizka]

Alright then, thanks.

I just realized I forgot to include the 16% taxes into the new amount grrrr! I don't want to go over 12,000$ US so I need to cut back on some other aspect of the game again. So that's 1,920$ to cut.

So I'm thinking 250 off rewards. So from 750 to 500. 500$ is about 5% of the total amount. That leaves 1,670.

I'll further cut 500 from art and code. Like you guys said, the KS won't cover the costs of the game but it'll help. The rest I'll have to pay for myself. This isn't the golden age of Kickstarter anymore where terrible project would get funded at 500%. Even good projects barely make it at times.

So that's another 1000 off. 670 remains. Another 250 off music. 420$ remains. I guess I have no choice to cut back further from art and code. This is making me realize a kickstarter campaign isn't really what I thought it would turn out to be. I definitely idealized the whole process. Anyway, enough complaining.

So that's 210 off code and graphics again.


Total:
4290: art
4290: code
750: music
1920: taxes
500: rewards
1200: Kickstarter and Amazon
_______________________________
12950

-290x2=from code and art= 580
______________________________
12,370.

-185x2=from code and art
______________________________
12,000


Final Total:

3,815 = Art
3,815 = Code
750 = music
500 = rewards
1920 = (freaking) taxes
1200 = KS and Amazon
______________________
12,000








More questions:

Should I include a detailed accounting of the funds future usage like I did here in the KS? On one hand it would show more transparency but on the other hand it would make the KS page longer. They both have advantages and disadvantages.


More modification to the KS page:

1. Changed the top of the page which was just a boring logo. I replaced it with a new one I made.

2. I'm also redoing the abilities description with a gif carousel (this was mentioned by Lobswer Sundew):

So I'm replacing this (too much vertical space) with this:




Will compile more abilities to that gif.

(will say "provides")

[BeautifulGlitch]

Remember to launch on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday! Avoid weekends both for first and last days! Weekends are hell in KS, believe me. Our next project will be our 3rd. Not our first rodeo!

[Zizka]

Weird, I've been told the opposite. I've been told to finish on a Sunday. Now I don't know what to do.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

The table is the result of these guidelines based on past experience:
● Mondays to Wednesday are generally good days to launch.
● Ending on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays should be avoided if possible.
● Mondays to Wednesdays are generally good days to end.
● Thursday aren't as good a day to launch because the last half of the precious first-48-hours gets wasted on a Friday. However, Thursdays can be a good day to end.
● A campaign duration of 30 to 34 days is recommended. Running closer to 30 days is generally better, but sometimes a few extra days help align the campaign with a much better date to end while not losing a good starting date.
● It is good to launch in the morning and end in the evening for the Eastern time zone for North America. There is an option to set the specific ending hour for the final day.

[Zizka]

Oops! My bad! I could have sworn he had said the opposite. So starting on a Thursday and ending on a Sunday was a pretty bad idea.

In that case I'll launch on Wednesday the 12th and finish on November 7th for 27 days.

Thanks for correcting me, Bakkusa.

[io3 creations]

Thank god it shows up in the country's currency.

Actually, I meant that I see the amount in the project creator's country's currency and not in my country's currency.  So that's why I was wondering if that auto-currency-conversion feature that oldblood mentions is available for people in the US only or is there a setting/option that can be changed?

[BeautifulGlitch]

Oops! My bad! I could have sworn he had said the opposite. So starting on a Thursday and ending on a Sunday was a pretty bad idea.

In that case I'll launch on Wednesday the 12th and finish on November 7th for 27 days.

Thanks for correcting me, Bakkusa.

Super bad idea, actually.

I always start on Tuesday and finish on Thursday. Tuesday is best day to me.

a) as early as possible in a week
b) but avoiding Mondays since they are seen as a "bad day" (like everyone hates Mondays)
c) by ending on a Thursday the 48h alert will arrive on... a Tuesday!

so... best combo imo.
I will do this. We will actually be KS neighbors.

Discussing about this has made me want to post in my devlog about my approach to KS.

[LobsterSundew]

I'm catching up reading the posts I missed. Occasionally I stop receiving automated notifications from TIGSource about threads I'm subbed/following.

About Hypnospace Outlaw:

Here is the TIGSource thread for Hypnospace Outlaw:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=56280.msg1287870#msg1287870
I posted graphs throughout its run.

The reward tier that introduces an offer for the game (the anchor tier), any early-bird version of that tier and the immediately following reward tiers are where most backers are expected to reside. That is why planning the lower-priced reward tiers is so important to get right. Getting it wrong results in a campaign that needs more backers total to reach 100% funded.

This doesn't mean that the large tiers like $500 or $1,000 aren't important. A single $500 backer contributes as much as 50 backers at the $10 tier.

Hypnospace Outlaw had a $12 priced anchor tier. Super Toaster X currently has a $10 one, so it makes them harder to compare. The price of the anchor tier is actually very significant. The average pledge per backer is significantly infuenced. A campaign with a $5 priced anchor tier will perform differently than a $15 priced or $25 priced anchor tier. When looking for campaigns to compare with, it is good to seek out those with similar priced anchor tiers.

The $20 tier was an extra important reward tier for Hypnospace Outlaw because it offered the soundtrack (a major draw for that game). Its $20 tier almost contributed as much as the $12 tier did.

Hypnospace needed to raise $8,400 in its first week. It achieved that by its 3rd day. It consistently stayed within the top 10 rankings for the category. It was also able to get some decent amount of press thanks to previous press coverage about Dropsy and the connections that game grew.

About timing:

October is one of the best overall months for video game campaigns on Kickstarter, but is also one of the most fiercely competitive and also becomes about dodging the releases of flagship AAA games when trying to launch and end. Kickstarter sees decline after October until February for multiple reasons. A big reason is the holiday season spending draining disposable incomes. November is actually a candidate for the most unpredictable month on Kickstarter. Some years it's great. Other years it is a massacre of failing campaigns.

October 14th 2016 would be a Friday. November 6th is a Sunday. I see ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ quoted my previous advice to avoid launching or ending on weekends. It is good to see the launch changed to October 12th.

A Wednesday October 12th launch date would result in running 32 days to end on Monday November 14th or 33 days to end on Tuesday November 15th.

October 13th has PlayStation VR's release, but many review videos are already coming out this week for it. Battlefield 1 and Civilization VI are on October 21st. Titanfall 2 is October 28th. Gears of War 4 will have already come out on October 11th. Five Nights at Freddy's may also have a new entry in that series release any time now. Owlboy releases on November 1st. BlizzCon 2016 is being held on November 4th. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare releases on November 4th. The PlayStation 4 Pro release is November 10th. Watchdogs 2 is on November 15th. Final Fantasy XV is November 29th after a delay earlier this year.

October 12th is currently about 5 days away. Proper setup time for a campaign (coordinating press, videos, backers, feedback iterations, optimizations, etc.) usually takes the span of about a month. The press component on its own is usually takes up 26 hours (8 minutes average per email x 200 emails). For a large $100,000+ project it can easily inflate to 70 hours. I'm currently missing a sense about how much of this process is done. I need to process the new information.

[Zizka]

Thanks LS! Very informative as usual.

I'll write up the next devlog about my contacts with the press in order to keep things organized. That's what I'll be doing until launch.

I've replaced the list of abilities with a gif like you recommended as well.

[BeautifulGlitch]

Oops! My bad! I could have sworn he had said the opposite. So starting on a Thursday and ending on a Sunday was a pretty bad idea.

In that case I'll launch on Wednesday the 12th and finish on November 7th for 27 days.

Thanks for correcting me, Bakkusa.

and what about thanking me too?